What's bug, you ask?

In short, bug is the accidental brainchild of Brian Hamada.

Following a successful 2004 performance at the Cuesta College Central Coast Jazz Festival in San Luis Obispo of the Peter Epstein Quartet (featuring Jeff Miley, Roger Shew and Brian Hamada), James Miley (then director of jazz studies at Cuesta College) began scheming ways to bring the group together again for a repeat performance at the college. A date was secured, schedules confirmed, and then James got the idea that it might be fun to take on a new faculty position at Virginia Tech and move 2600 miles due east. Rather than allow the gig to fall through, Brian convinced James to join the group himself--and they ended up booking a few more dates in Southern California so he could fly out from the east coast to "sit in" on piano and bring along a few new tunes in the process.

bug was born. The rest is history.

Things really clicked with this band right from the beginning, and that chemistry has made it easy for them to develop their music and concept further each time they hit the road together. They hail from many parts of the country: James lives in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, Peter in Reno, Nevada, Jeff in Los Angeles, Roger in Fullerton, CA, and Brian hails from Fresno (the 'NO!). Yet everytime they get together to make music, the connection is instant and the band sounds like they're been playing together forever.


Thanks for flying with us. Hope you enjoy the music!

Here's a deleted scene from the upcoming "bug": Behind The Music episode...